[Footnote 2:  Journals, March 16.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1660.  March 14.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1660.  March 15.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1660.  March 16.]

which it made against the encroachments of the crown, it deserves both admiration and gratitude; its subsequent proceedings assumed a more ambiguous character; ultimately they led to anarchy and military despotism.  But, whatever were its merits or demerits, of both posterity has reaped the benefit.  To the first, we are indebted for many of the rights which we now enjoy; by the second, we are warned of the evils which result from political changes effected by violence, and in opposition to the habits and predilections of the people.

Monk had now spent more than two months in England, and still his intentions were covered with a veil of mystery, which no ingenuity, either of the royalists or of the republicans, could penetrate.  Sir John Grenville, with whom the reader is already acquainted, paid frequent visits to him at St. James’s; but the object of the Cavalier was suspected, and his attempts[a] to obtain a private interview were defeated by the caution of the general.  After the dissolution, Morrice, the confidential friend of both, brought them together, and Grenville delivered to Monk a most flattering letter from the king.  He received and perused it with respect.  This was, he observed, the first occasion on which he could express with safety his devotion to the royal cause; but he was still surrounded with men of hostile or doubtful sentiments; the most profound secrecy was still necessary; Grenville might confer in private with Morrice, and must consent to be himself the bearer of the general’s answer.  The heads of that answer were reduced to writing.  In it Monk prayed the king to send him a conciliatory letter, which, at the proper season, he might lay before the parliament; for himself he asked

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1660.  March 10.]

nothing; he would not name, as he was desired, his reward; it was not for him to strike a bargain with his sovereign; but, if he might express his opinion, he advised Charles to promise a general or nearly general pardon, liberty of conscience, the confirmation of the national sales, and the payment of the arrears due to the army.  As soon as this paper had been, read, he threw it into the fire, and bade Grenville rely on his memory for its contents.[1]

By Charles at Brussels the messenger was received as an angel from heaven.  The doubts which had so long tormented his mind were suddenly removed; the crown, contrary to expectation, was offered[a] without previous conditions; and nothing more was required than that he should aid with his pen the efforts of the general; but when he communicated the glad tidings to Ormond, Hyde, and Nicholas, these counsellors discovered that the advice, suggested by Monk, was derogatory to the interests of the throne and the personal character of the monarch, and composed a royal declaration which,